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Shanghai Uprising
The Shanghai Uprising was a rebellion in the city of Shanghai, and the surrounding Neutral Zone. It came about as a result of rampant LEP corruption and general restlessness in the city and rural surroundings, and resulted in dangerous precedents being set, as well as showcasing the delicate balance upon which the Legation Cities rest. Sparks of a Revolution For a long time, Shanghai had been the soul of the left in China, however the failed Northern Expedition dissuaded any hopes for a general uprising, but only for a while. The Shanghai Syndicalists, a broad term for the city's many leftist groups, were a heavily disorganized troupe, with the anarchists blocking one move, while the syndicalists would stop another, and the socdems wouldn't go for anything. This carousel of disorder in the left continued until the summer of 1931. Sun Chuanfang's League of Eight Provinces had always been a contender with Wu Peifu's Northern Zhili Clique, and with the Xuantong Restoration, the balance of power had begun to scare Sun. As a result, he began to agree to a series of increasingly exploitative deals with the German East Asia Society, (later A.O.G.) to try and maintain his own power. However, the Germans weren't satisfied in dealing with just Sun, and so began to bribe and corrupt his subordinates, soldiers, and officials at all levels, which plummeted the League's already low popular support. Kuomintang remnants hidden in the countryside, at the same time, had begun to reorganize. Old arms and explosives, hidden in the ground from years before, were uncovered. Command structures, long desolate, were resurrected. The newly established KMT in the countryside was too weak to start a revolution alone, but they could plant seeds for one. The skills of these remnant KMT officers were key in training a new generation of soldiers, in the rural and urban lands. A Powderkeg Lit By mid 1932, amid rampant corruption and restlessness, the Shanghai Syndicalists and the rural rebellious elements began a general uprising in and around Shanghai, inspiring uprisings in other places like Nanjing, Wuhan, and several cities along the Southern Coast. The Mandate of the Legation Cities was designed as a compromise between two competing, hostile powers. It was made to be satisfactory, nothing more. This uprising suggested to the foreign that their compromise wouldn't stand the test of time. The mandate was meant to be guaranteed by the threat of intervention, which would be enough to dissuade even the most belligerent warlord. But rebels weren't warlords, and they were fighting on different terms. Due to the uprising occurring within the Legation's 30km neutral zone, LEP troops on the border were unable to smash the rebels, only contain them. Rebels could dart across the border, and then quickly jump back over to avoid retaliation, all the while besieging the city's old mainly foreign-inhabited international settlement. The Consular Council was slow to act, and the Shanghai Municipal Council was stretched thin to guard the thirty-mile zone they were meant to protect. In a risky act, Sun Chuangfang's troops were admitted across the border under the command of German officers, with diplomats arguing that the officers made them German, rather than Chinese, setting a precedent for increasingly direct German interference in Chinese affairs. After Effects Though Sun's forces crushed the uprising (stories tell of syndies being thrown alive into locomotive fire-boxes), there was more than what was shown outright going on. The LEP was shown to be at the A.O.G's beck-and-call, hurting its already low popular support, and sparking divisions among the generals of the armies. Multiple governors refused to move against the rebels, leaving Sun with only enough power to remove one of them. Also, despite the uprising being a failure, it showed that leftism as a whole was nowhere near dead in China. Remnants of the rebel forces ran away to the mountains, showing that the League would be dealing with them for a long time to come. Many criticize Wu Peifu for not acting in a time of strife in the south, and most observers took this to mean that he had little control beyond his northern territories. Although many cliques recognize Wu's central government, two resist, and seem to be enough of a threat to keep him cooped up in his own lands, unable to intervene in Southern affairs. Category:Chinese-related topics Category:History